So, Wavves is 'the unlikely sound of today's American youth, is it? Let's see...
‘Rainbow Everywhere’ is a minute and a half of woozy electronica that starts like Pulp’s ‘Common People’ played at distortion level with the treble up full before warping off into a drunken-sounding nightmarish take on Kraftwerk’s sound. It it’s a false sense of sedateness, though, and ‘Beach Demon’ piles in at 100mph with a three-chord punk riff recorded at the point of distortion. Sounds like the whole lot was played through a 15 watt practice amp cranked up to 11 and the vocals are largely buried beneath the fizz of guitar and cymbal-heavy drumming. Yes! It has punk energy, but is more Metal Urbain than Sex Pistols and has the production values of the early Pavement EPs. Tracks like ‘I’m So Bored’ are as much slacker as punk, combining a sunny helium-filled harmony with the ennui of the title, which is repeated by way of a chorus.
There’s no let up between tracks and ‘Into the Dregs’ is more of the same, only with surf melodies thrown in, sort of like he Jesus and Mary Chain dueting – or should that be duelling? – with The Pixies in the room next door.
It’s not all full-throttle low-fi punkness though: when Wavves – namely one Nathan Daniel Williams – slows it down, as he does on ‘Sun Opens My Eyes’ and ‘Weed Demon,’ it’s done to good effect. The slower moments are but brief interludes, however, and are carefully situated between rollicking riots of noise.
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There’s something of a goth theme threading through ‘Wavvves,’ with the tracks ‘Goth Girls,’ ‘California Goth,’ ‘Beach Goth’ and ‘Surf Goth’ all touching on the shadowy subculture. Whether it’s old-school goths or neo-goth Marilyn Mansun fans Williams is so obsessed with isn’t entirely clear, although I suspect it’s the former. ‘California Goths’ is a rockabilly thrash that features the lyrics ‘I'm getting high / To pass the time / No reason why / Was my reply / When I die.’ ‘Goth Girls’ is another piece of wibberly-wobberly distorted electronica with a few fear chords thrown in, while ‘Summer Goth’ is surf punk cranked up really high, the lyrics completely indecipherable amidst the guitar overload.
There’s a brief trippy interlude in the form of ‘Killr Punx, Scary Demons’ before the weird-out Munsters theme on acid ‘Surf Goth’ brings things to an off-kilter and rather unexpected close. On the strength of this, the buzz surrounding Wavves is actually justified, and ‘Wavvves’ is an album that’s worth getting excited about.
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